By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, November 15, 2010

A Renton marijuana activist caught walking into the King County Courthouse with a paltry amount of old, dry pot would very much like his bud back, and a little something more.

In what he sees as a challenge to state law regarding the drug, John C. Worthington, 47, is representing himself in a lawsuit demanding the sheriff's office return the 2 grams of marijuana confiscated from him on Oct. 14.

Worthington doesn't note in his lawsuit that he holds a medical marijuana card or deny ownership of the penny's weight of the drug. Instead, he's arguing that a state board's finding of marijuana to have medicinal value ought to have forced changes to other state laws.

Worthington claims to have a medical marijuana prescription, but said he plans to "take (his as-yet uncharged) misdemeanor like a man" without sharing his card with the court.

Worthington was passing through security on his way to the downtown Seattle courthouse's law library when he placed an old baggy of pot tucked in his jacket in a security tray.

"I just kind of forgot that I had it," Worthington said. "They started to give me a hard time. They called me a stupid idiot for bringing it in there."

Recounting the incident in a report, a King County deputy sheriff assigned to security at the courthouse described his surprise at Worthington's defense.

"I asked Worthington why he would bring marijuana into a courthouse knowing that he would be searched," the deputy said in the incident report. "He replied that it was an herb and not a controlled substance and therefore not illegal."

Speaking Tuesday, Worthington offered a similar argument. Citing a state Board of Pharmacy decision, he claimed marijuana was an "herbal substance" not a drug, and, as such, does not fall under the state laws regulating illegal narcotics.

Writing the court, the deputy said he went on to check Worthington for outstanding warrants -- he had none -- and confiscated the marijuana. In his account, the deputy contended Worthington was somewhat upset he wasn't being arrested.

"He then told me he wanted to be arrested," the deputy continued. "I advised Worthington that I did not feel that was appropriate and that I would let the prosecutor's office decide if charges should be filed."

Worthington was freed. His marijuana remains in the custody of the sheriff's office.

King County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said the case has not yet been referred to prosecutors. "The evidence is still being analyzed," Urquhart said. "The sheriff's office is very sympathetic to legitimate medical marijuana users."

While he remained confident in his reading of state law -- contentions not raised by mainstream marijuana legalization groups -- Worthington was less than hopeful about his chances at a preliminary hearing scheduled early next year.

"My arguments are pretty solid," he said.

His opponents, he continued, "can't win in a court of law. They can only not like the decision that should be made, and make a political one."